Hole packing device



Sept. 24, 1963 J. D. JACOBS 3, 4,

v HOLE PACKING DEVICE Filed March 14, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet l Fig.|.

INVENTOR. J. Donovan Jacobs Sept. 24, 1963 .1. D. JACOBS HOLE PACKINGDEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 14, 1961 INVENTOR.

J. Donovan Jacobs Sept. 24, 1963 J. D. JACOBS HOLE PACKING DEVICE 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 14, 1961 INVENTOR. J. Donovan Jacobs BY yaw-Q/ Se t. 24, 1963 .1. D. JACOBS HOLE PACKING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed March 14, 1961 INVENTOR. J. Donovan Jacobs BY United States Patent3,104,584 HOLE PACKING DEVICE Joseph Donovan Jacobs, San Rafael, Calif.Jacobs Associates, 503 Market St, San Francisco 5, Calif.) Filed Mar.14, 1961, Ser. No. 95,651 9 Claims; (Cl. 86-20) This invention relatesto a new and improved hole packing device, and more particularly relatesto an apparatus for loading and tamping plastic material such asexplosives into confined spaces. A preferred embodiment of thisinvention is used to load and tamp explosives, such as dynamite, intoholes which have been drilled in rock and finds particular applicationin tunnel construction, mining, open cut rock excavation, and the like.

Heretofore, insertion and tamping of sticks of dynamite and otherexplosives into drilled holes at the tunnel heading has customarily beenperformed by laborious manual procedure. The operation consists ofinserting individual sticks of explosives into the hole opening andthereafter the workman uses a long wooden pole known as a tamping stickto pack the explosives within the hole.

In most underground excavation work this is an especially time consumingand costly operation since certain other work must ceaseand await thecompletion of the loading.

In tunnel excavation it is customary to use two men to load each hole.One man, such as the assistant to the driller, feeds sticks of powderinto the hole at the face of the tunnel while the other workman, usuallythe driller,

wields the long, ungainly tamping stick. On the other hand, drillingmethods and apparatus have been improved so that fewer men are requiredfor other operations carried on at the heading. The savings in labor andother savings resulting from improving drilling operations are reducedbecause of the hand operation required for loading explosives. It is,therefore, a principal object of the present invention to reduce thelabor and time required to load and tamp the charge, thereby alsofacilitating the use of other labor saving devices and apparatus.

Still another object of the invention is .to make more uniform the forcewith which the charge is tamped into the hole as compared with manualoperation, which is subject to human factors.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an apparatus which isinstalled at the working head and which loads sticks of dynamite or thelike into a tube installed .in the drilled hole and which furthercomprises a flexible member which pushes the charge down the tube totheend of the hole and out of the tube and then rams the change into thehole by pneumatic pressure. Means is provided for automatically feedingand retracting the flexible member which pushes the charge down thetube.

Means is also provided for gripping and forcing inwardly the tube to ramthe charge into the hole. It will thus be seen that apparatus isprovided which automaitcally performs operations heretoforeconducted byat least two men but requires the attendance of only one operator,

, each of the several views.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation View partly broken away in section,showing the device installed at the working head.

A 3,104,584 Patented. Sept. 24, 1%63 FIG. 2 is an enlarged transversevertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view showing the flexible tamping elementretracted.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, partly broken away in section andshowing the flexible tamping element projected.

FIG. 5 is a top plan.

FIG. 6 is a transverse view through the reel for the extensible member,being partly broken away in section;

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of the magazine of a modification.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation, partly broken away in section of anothermodification.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a portion of themodification of FIG. 8.

As shown in the accompanying drawings, particularly FIG. 1, the presentinvention is used at the heading 11 of a tunnel. Shown in the drawingsis the working face 11 and floor 13. By a previous operation forming nopart of the present invention, at least one hole 14 has been drilled inthe working face, said hole being of extended length and intended toreceive a plurality of charges of plastic material 16 such as dynamiteor other explosives. Installed in the hole 14 is an elongated barrel 17having a length to project entirely into the hole with an extendedlength outside the hole. Preferably the barrel 17 is formed of alight-weight material of a type which is not likely to cause sparks orotherwise create a hazard. Thus, the barrel may be formed of a plastic(e.g. polyvinyl), aluminum or other suitable material. The diameter ofthe barrel 17 is slightly less than that of the drill hole 14 and theinside diameter is slightly greater than that of the charge 16 or stickto be inserted.

Supported above the floor 13 of the tunnel, or a jumbo (not shown) usedconventionally in drilling operations, by means of an extensible andadjustable leg 21, is a horizontally disposed track 22, here shown inthe form of an I-beam. It will be understood the shape of the track issubject to wide modification as is the means whereby the same issupported, it being preferable that wide adjustability be afiorded sothat explosives may be inserted in drill holes in various locationsincluding those which are diflicult to service by manual operation.Supported by track 22 is a horizontally slidable carriage 23, here shownformed with side members 24 vertically disposed parallel to thedirection of movement of the carriage and a pair of rollers 26 rotatablymounted on angles 27 on each side. Rollers 26 engage inside the flangesof the beam 22 so that the carriage is adequately supported forlongitudinal movement along the beam. Stop 28 on the track limitsforward movement of carriage 23. The outer end of the barrel 17 isconnected to the carriage 23 so that the carriage and barrel movelongitudinally together, and preferably a quick disconnect means (notshown) is provided to facilitate installation of the barrel. Transversehorizontal shaft 31 is rotatably mounted in the carriage between sides24 and 'is rotated by means of a conventional compressed air motor 32,preferably of the well-known air turbine type, with a suitable gearreduction 33 and right-angle drive 34, all as is conventional in thepneumatic motor art; Mounted on shaft 31 within casing 23 is reel 36which has a length approximately one-half the distance between the sides24, and is free to move from side to means may be used for the samepurpose. The exterior of reel 36 is formed with a helical groove 39 andcarries a flexible extensible member 41 formed around the groove 39,said member 41 being preferably of a plastic resembling a plastic gardenhose and dimensioned to slide freely inside barrel 71. Pneumatic valves42, 43 are installed on either side 24 of the casing and have actuatinglevers 4-4 which are engaged by the reel 56 as it reaches one side orthe other of the casing and are connected through a pneumatic system toreverse the direction of motor 32. Reel 36 is so located that theflexible member 41 feeds off the top of the reel 36 out of its groove 39and directly into the barrel 17 and the reel moves from side to side sothat the flexible member feeds directly into the barrel; Suitable meansis provided to prevent the flexible member from being forced out of thegroove and for such purpose a squirrel cage pattern of rods 16 carryingroller sections 47 may be disposed between sides 24 around the peripheryof the reel 36. At the top of the casing is a transverse shaft 48carrying a grooved roller 49 spaced above the reel 36 the diameter ofthe flexible member 41 and insuring proper feeding of the flexiblemember into the barrel 17. To prevent reversal of reel 36 when backpressure is applied to flexible member 41, a notch 91 is formed in thereel and engaged by pawl 92 reciprocable in air pressure cylinder 93 oncarriage 23.

Immediately ahead of the carriage 23 is the magazine section 51. In theform of the magazine shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, inclusive, there is amulti-chamber cylinder 52 which revolves around a longitudinallyextending horizontal shaft 53 fixed at one end to casing 23 and at itsouter end to a support hung from barrel guide 54. Preferably, the numberof chambers 56 in the revolving cylinder 52 is equal to the maximumnumber of charges 16 to be inserted in a drill hole, but this number issubject to wide modification. The barrel 17 is cut away at the magazineas indicated by reference numeral 57 so that the chambers communicatewith the barrel 17 as each charge is moved into position. The cylinder52 may be indexed manually, or various automatic means (not shown) maybe used to bring each horizontal, longitudinal chamber 56 into registrywith the barrel opening 57. Each chamber 56 is shaped to receive asingle charge of a plastic material 16, such as a stick of dynamite.

Spaced forwardly of the magazine 51 is the barrel gripping and rammingstation 61 which is supported above track 22 by rear and forward posts62, 63, through which barrel 17 slides. Rear post 62 is attached bymeans of pin 64 to clevis 66 of double-acting pneumatic cylinder 67. Therod 6% of cylinder 67 at its forward end is provided with a fitting 69to which, on either side, are pinned links 71. The rearward end of eachlink 71 is connected to lever 72 and the levers 72 are interconnected byhorizontal pin 73 to the opposite lever. On the upper end of each lever72 is another transverse pin 74. Between the two pins 73, 74 aresemi-cylindrical split gripping shoes 76 having radii slightly greaterthan the radius of barrel 17. The linkage therefore described is suchthat when the cylinder 67 is energized, as the rod 63 is projected thelevers 72 are moved from the vertical position shown in FIG. 3 (which isthe relaxed position of the gripper) to the non-vertical position shownin FIG. 4. The pins 73, 74 bear against the top and bottom shoes 76 andbring them together to grip the barrel 17. On the return or retractionstroke of the rod 68 the movement is reversed. To prevent the levers 72from moving beyond a vertical position on the return stroke of the rod,the shoes 76 are provided with vertical side members 77 pinned togetherat the top by pins 75 and at the bottom by means of pins 78 todiagonally dispose links 79 on either side which are formed with slots31 atv the upper end to receive top pin '74. It will thus be seen thatlevers 72 cannot swing in a clockwise 4 direction beyond the position ofFIG. 3, although they can swing in a counter-clockwise direction (FIG.4) on the outer stroke of rod 63 to grip the barrel.

in operation, before installing the barrel 17, the first stick ofdynamite containing the detonator and long blasting wires (not shown) isinserted in the front end of the barrel. The wires extend out the frontend of the barrel and back over the outside of the barrel. Then withbeam 22 installed in place the barrel 17 is inserted in the hole 14 toadjacent the end thereof and connected to the carriage 23, the magazine51 is filled with sticks 16 of dynamite, or the like, the number in thecylinder being selected depending upon the total charge desired. At thecommencement of operation the reel 36 is in retra cted positioni.e., theflexible member 41 is totally wound on the reel. Motor 32 is started inprojecting direction and this causes the flexible member 41 to unwindfrom the reel 36 and move the charge down through the barrel 17 to theend thereof. Upon reaching the end, the charge 16 is pushed out of theend of the barrel and this causes the bar-rel to move backwardlyi.e., tomove slightly out of the hole. When this movement occurs motor 32 ismanually stopped and cylinder 67 is manually energized. Projection ofrod 68 twists the levers 72 out of vertical position, causing the shoes76 to grip the barrel. Further projection of rod 63 moves the barrel 17inward and rams the charge between the end of the barrel and the end ofthe hole, the presence of the flexible member 41 at the end of thebarrel preventing the charge from backing up inside the barrel. A pawl92 locks reel 36 to prevent member 41 from being shoved backwardsufficiently hard to reverse motor 32. As soon as this operation iscompleted, the cylinder 67 is manually reversed causing the barrel 17 toretract and then causing the shoes 76 to relax their grip on the barrel.Meanwhile, the flexible member 41 is being rewound on reel 36. When itreaches the end of the rewinding movement the magazine 51 is indexed andthe next charge moved into the barrel. The operation is then repeateduntil the required number of charges have being inserted and rammed.

An alternate magazine 51a is shown in FIG. 7. A clip 101, rectangular incross section and dimensioned to receive a plurality of charges 16 inside-by-side relation is connected to barrel 17 with the open upper endof clip 101 in registry with opening 57. Spring 102 in the bottom ofclip 101 biases pusher member 103 upward against the downmost charge 16.This forces the top charge into barrel 17. After this charge has beenrammed home and flexible member 41 retracted, the next charge is fedinto barrel 17. In other respects, the packing device is similar to thatshown in FIGS. 1 to 6.

In the modification of FIGS. 8-9 certain elements of the device aresubstantially the same as those of the preceding modifications and suchelements are marked with the same reference numerals and not hereinfurther described in detail.

A plug 101a is slidable inside barrel 17' and is forced toward the outerend by compressed air which may be introduced into barrel 17 throughport 102a under the control of valve 105. Thus the plug 101a isinitially in the solid line position shown in FIG. 8 and is drivenoutwardly forcing one stick from magazine 51 to the end of barrel 17.Sealing rings 10311 in grooves on the exterior of plug 101a reduceescape of air.

Retraction of plug 101a is accomplished by wire 106 connected thereto ashereinafter appears. The inner end of wire 106 is wound around drum 107rotatable in casing 100. Drum 107 is actuated to retract Wire 106. Forsuch purpose compressed air motor 109 may be used, driven through airinlet pipe 111 and controlled by valve 112. Alternatively wire 106 maybe retracted by a spiral spring (not shown), as well understood in theretractable wire and cable art.

Provision is also made for latching plug 101 at the outer end of barrel17, particularly during the ramming operation. Thus a cavity 116 isformed in plug 101a communicating with axial bore 117 through which wire106 extends. A pair of radially extending latch members 118 project outthrough diametrically opposed radial slots 119 likewise communicatingwith cavity 116. In projected position, latch members 118 projectoutside plug 101a and, as shown in FIG. 9, prevent plug 101a from beingdrawn inside barrel 17 during ramming. Springs 121 bias latch members118 outwardly. Retraction of the latch members may be accomplished inseveral ways. As here illustrated, bell cranks 122 are mounted in cavity116 by transverse pivot pin 1'23. Each crank 12.2 is connected to theinner end of one of the latch members, preferably by a slot and pinconnection 124. The opposite arms of cranks 122 are connected toconverging links 126 which are attached to the end of wire 106. Hencewhen wire 106 is pulled by turning drum 107 (or other means), latchmembers 118 are retracted and thereupon plug 101a may be returned fromdotted line position in FIG. 8 to solid line position.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail, "byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it is understood that certain changes and modificationsmay be practiced Within the spirit of the invention and scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is: V

l. A hole packing device comprising a track, means supporting said tracked'jacent a hole to be packed, a carriage movable along said track, areel rotatably mounted in said carriage, power means for said reel, asleeve mounted for movement with said carriage and dimensioned to fitinside said hole, said sleeve being formed with anopening ahead of saidcarriage, a flexible pushing element dimensioned to fit inside saidsleeve and wound about said reel for projection into and Withdrawal fromsaid sleeve, a magazine adjacent said sleeve having a discharge port inregistry with said opening for inserting charges into said opening aheadof the withdrawn position of said element, gripping means for grippingsaid sleeve, and pressure responsive means for moving said grippingmeans longitudinally of said track to ram said sleeve and carriage.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which said magazine comprises amulti-chambered cylinder and means rotatively mounting said cylinder tobringeachchamber into position in registry with said opening, each saidchamber being shaped to receive a charge.

3. A device according .to claim 1, in which said magazine comprises a.box shaped to receive a plurality of charges side by side and openinginto said opening in said sleeve and resilient means for biasing chargesfrom said box into said sleeve.

4. A device according to claim 1, in which said pressure responsivemeans comprises a fluid-actuated cyl inder mounted on said track, andsaid gripping means comprises a clamp articulately connected to saidcylinder to grip said sleeve, said cylinder being arranged to force saidclamp for movement longitudinally of said track to ram said sleeve downsaid hole.

5. A device according to claim 1, which further cornprises meanscooperating with said reel to lock said reel against winding of saidelement, whereby camping movement of said sleeve and of said element isperformed simultaneously.

6. A hole packing device comprising a sleeve dimensioned to fit inside abole to be packed with a plurality of charges, an elongated continuouslyflexible charge pushing element dimensioned to fit inside said sleeve, areel positioned adjacent an end of said sleeve for winding and unwindingsaid pushing element for movement of said element within said sleevebetween a withdrawn position and a projected position, support means formounting said sleeve and reel .for movement together longitudinally ofthe axis of said sleeve, power means for said reel, said sleeve beingformed with an opening dimensioned to accept a charge, said openinglocated ahead of the withdrawn position of said pushing element, amagazine tor a plurality of charges mounted adjacent said sleeve havinga discharge port in registry with said opening and means fixed relativeto said support means for moving said sleeve and said reel on saidsupport means longitudinally of said sleeve to ram charges deliveredahead of said element.

7. A device according to claim 6, in which said last named meanscomprises gripping means for gripping said sleeve and pressure-actuatedmeans for moving said gripping means longitudinally of said hole.

8. A device according to claim 6, in which said magazine comprises amulti-chambered cylinder and means rotatively. mounting said cylinder tobring each chamber into position in registry with said opening, eachsaid chamber being shaped to receive a charge.

9. A device according to claim 6, in which said magazine comprises a boxshaped to receive a plurality of charges side by side and opening intosaid opening in said sleeve and resilient means for biasing charges fromsaidv box into said sleeve.

Arnold Sept. 27, 1960

1. A HOLE PACKING DEVICE COMPRISING A TRACK, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID TRACKADJACENT A HOLE TO BE PACKED, A CARRIAGE MOVABLE ALONG SAID TRACK, AREEL ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID CARRIAGE, POWER MEANS FOR SAID REEL, ASLEEVE MOUNTED FOR MOVEMENT WITH SAID CARRIAGE AND DIMENSIONED TO FITINSIDE SAID HOLE, SAID SLEEVE BEING FORMED WITH AN OPENING AHEAD OF SAIDCARRIAGE, A FLEXIBLE PUSHING ELEMENT DIMENSIONED TO FIT INSIDE SAIDSLEEVE AND WOUND ABOUT SAID REEL FOR PROJECTION INTO AND WITHDRAWAL FROMSAID SLEEVE, A MAGAZINE ADJACENT SAID SLEEVE HAVING A DISCHARGE PORT INREGISTRY WITH SAID OPENING FOR INSERTING CHARGES INTO SAID OPENING AHEADOF THE WITHDRAWN POSITION OF SAID ELEMENT, GRIPPING MEANS FOR GRIPPINGSAID SLEEVE, AND PRESSURE RESPONSIVE MEANS FOR MOVING SAID GRIPPINGMEANS LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID TRACK TO RAM SAID SLEEVE AND CARRIAGE.